1. Field of the Invention
This invention concerns blower discharge chutes of the type used on lawn mowers or other powered cultivating equipment, and the like, and more specifically to bi-directional blower discharge chutes.
2. Background and Related Art
When using a blower or mower to remove leaves, grass cuttings, or other debris from a parcel of land of any significant size, the accumulation of the cut and/or blown debris becomes important for convenient disposal. For this purpose, some such devices are equipped with bags or other capture devices to hold the debris until such time as it may be conveniently disposed of. In the absence of a collection bag, some blower devices are equipped with special chutes to direct the placement of debris. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,770,894 to Gettleman, dated Nov. 20, 1956, discloses a dual directional snow discharge chute. As best seen in FIGS. 1-3 and described at column 4, lines 6-29, Gettleman discloses a bifurcated discharge chute having a deflector valve 116 therein to close off one of the openings and open the other to control to which side of the remover the snow will be projected. A pair of pivotable guides 120 are located at the ends of the upward directed discharge chute to control the angle at which snow will be ejected from the manifold.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,136,488 to Petlak et al, dated June 6, 1984, discloses an adjustable nozzle for jet snow melters, the nozzle having two outlets and a pivotable deflector vane to guide outgoing snow through one or the other of the outlets. The position of the vane can be controlled by manipulating a handle accessible to the user.
The use of a deflector vane placed in the mulch expulsion path to control the direction of expulsion is known in the art and may be seen, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,092,720 to Kluge, dated Apr. 7, 1914; U.S. Pat. No. 2,871,585 to Merry et al, dated Feb. 3, 1959; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,977,694 to Higby, dated Apr. 4, 1961.
The attachment of a chute to the outlet port of a lawn mower is taught by Watkins, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,756,556, dated Jul. 31, 1956.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,047 to Thoen et al, dated Sep. 12, 1972 discloses a combination lawn mower and snow blower which impels debris upwardly to a central outlet port which is covered with a rocking deflector hood to allow the user to direct the outgoing debris to one side or the other of the machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,562,932 to Rautio dated Feb. 16, 1971 discloses a snow blower attachment for rotary lawn mowers including a damper for controlling the pitch of outgoing snow or debris.
United Kingdom Patent 1,246,587 to Victa Limited teaches that a lawn mower may be used as a sweeping device as well as a cutting device, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,675,660 to Barnard, dated Feb. 15, 1951, discloses a combination mower, lawn cleaner and snow mover.